Snitches get Rewards in Microsoft’s Enforcement United Beta

Microsoft is launching a program that will allow Xbox Lives users the chance to report on folks with offensive Gamertags and profiles. The Enforcement United Beta is open to anyone with Xbox Live Ambassador status who then can sign up here. Microsoft will slowly open up the program over the next few months so that more Xbox Live Gold members can join.

Basically for a limited amount of time you’ll cycle through a list of reported Gamertags and deem them offensive or not. Not one person will be able to just force someone to change their Gamertag though. Microsoft assured us that that there will be a system in place to prevent anyone from becoming a power hungry crazy person.

“We have built in a series of carefully designed controls so no individual participant can wield unchecked power over another. The system will also continually calibrate itself to understand how reliable the data is and the sources it comes from.”

Participating in this program will actually net you freebies like avatar items and a badge on your profile to let people know you’re on watch. I think that giving a community better tools to police themselves actually improves the overall experience for everyone.

Raised under the tutelage of Sonic the Hedgehog and the Gunstars. Jorge came from an age where protagonists never spoke and instruction manuals were over 50 pages long. When Jorge isn't writing about some obscure indie game, he spends his day talking about videogames regardless if anyone is listening or not. Jorge one day dreams of voicing a random npc your main character bumps into and punches in the face.